Model Answer Unit 5, Activity 4.0, Step A, The Power of Music in Language Learning Sessions
This is a model answer. Your notes might be different.
Music is all about fun, emotion and helping people develop and rediscover their sense of identity without having to put this into particular words. Music helps people have emotional communication.
Music is remembered in different ways from words – often people with Dementia remember the entire lyrics of a song along with its melody, when they can otherwise hardly hold a conversation with others.
Singing together is a strong bonding activity, as Ted’s story confirms. Singing is thus a way of connecting with others without having to form your own sentences or answering questions.
Singing activates a particular area in the brain that is often least affected by and resistant to degenerative brain diseases such as Dementia.
And last but not least, music has a lot to do with spoken language and language learning – through music we remember the sound of words and remember their meaning in context.
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